Monday, June 30, 2008

Next Gen Endo Queen

Like aunt, like niece? I thought I was the reigning Endo Queen! Looks like it's time to pass the tiara to my niece. While riding home from swim practice, she locked up the brakes to avoid a chipmunk with a death wish. One broken wrist, one helmet split in half and loss of lots of skin off both knees and a shoulder. I think it may have been better to grant the little guy his wish. ;-)

Attitude



Hauling a fully mud coated mtb through a two foot deep crater of peanut butter mud, slipping and falling into a tree: one skinned forearm. Riding downhill on muddy trail with tires that refuse to shed mud and sliding into a tree: one bruised hip and shoulder. Slipping on snotty mud in the hike-a-bike section and slamming pedal into shin: one huge purple welt. Plunging down a super steep, slick gravel covered hill (a.k.a. The Gravity Cavity) and hitting the sandy bridge at the bottom at 30 mph, not once but three times, unscathed(!): priceless.

All week I had been debating whether to race at Mt. Snow (good preview and practice for Nationals), go to Moody Park (less technical, less chance of getting all bruised and battered), or simply not race the weekend. The latter really wasn't a choice. I needed to get out there especially after missing last weekend at Putney. The forecast called for scattered showers which meant a decent possibility that conditions at Mt. Snow would be treacherous. I've already seen Mt. Snow in those conditions. It's not pretty. I didn't want to push my luck.

So plan B, Moody Park. I'd heard the course was fast, not very technical and very fun. Sounded like a perfect confidence builder and made more sense than beating the living daylights out of my ego and my body at Mt. Snow. Plus, the race started at 10am instead of 2pm. Done deal. Little did I know that torrential downpours Saturday night and Sunday morning actually made it more of an epic mud fest but I'm getting ahead of myself.

On the road by 6am, I drove north under a low ceiling of grey skies and fog. Ninety minutes later I exited the highway almost on the NH/VT border and the skies opened up. Thunder, lightning, and rain so hard the wipers on high couldn't clear the windshield fast enough. By the time I reached the race site, the rain had stopped but the skies still looked threatening. Decided I'd at least go out and pre-ride a lap just in case the storms started up again and they cancelled the race. Didn't want to have driven all that way for nothing.

I could see how the course could be described as fast and fun. When dry. And it was anything but. The first 1/4 mile was fast, relatively dry double track. Good passing opportunities. Then there was a muddy, rocky, wet root covered uphill grind. Momentum was definitely your friend through this section since if you had to touch down, getting started was difficult at best and in some spots downright impossible. Next there was a twisty, flowy downhill but the ride was broken up by sections of impossible to ride mud holes. Next, another uphill section (dry-ish), that soon flattened out to another fast double track section leading up to the Gravity Cavity (which I never successfully rode up the other side). Next, across the road and into another uphill mud fest that they tried to make easier by putting some wooden pallets out there. I think it only made it worse. Then a muddy, twisty downhill again broken up with sections of unridable areas filled with a mixture of rocks, roots, and more thick, nasty mud. Finally, the downhill would dump you out on the finish line. Whew.

By the time my race went off at 10:30, the sun was attempting to burn through the clouds. I started thinking perhaps we'd luck out and things would dry out a bit. I didn't quite get the effect I was hoping for. The thin runny muddy did indeed start to dry but that just meant that by my third lap, the mud was the consistency of peanut butter.

At the gun, I punched it since I figured I didn't want to be stuck behind the pack on the muddy, uphill grind. I was third into the woods and passed one woman in the first mud bog. Hit the uphill in second and toward the top of the hill was passed by another woman. And that's how it stayed pretty much for the rest of the race. I tried to catch the woman who passed me (thought she was in my age group but turns out she wasn't). By the second lap, I was starting to get tired. Hauling my bike through some of those muddy sections just wasn't fun and in fact, I think the bike weighed an extra 10 lbs due to the layer of mud/leaves/crap clinging to it.

And then it happened: at the start of the third lap, I had about reached my limit. I'm standing up to my knees in mud, trying to step forward and drag my bike (more like a boat anchor) through that energy sucking quicksand when I had a mental meltdown. @#$%^&*( piece of &^%^$#! *&^&^%%$$!!!!! %^&^*&((!!! I lost my grip on the bike, it tipped over to the right, I slid to the left and found myself sitting in that 2ft deep mud. And I just stopped for a few seconds. I sat there. I looked around. No one. And then I just started laughing. Crazy woman sitting in the mud laughing. Wiped my hands, shook it off, reminded myself that the real reason I do this is to have fun. And really, when else do you have a reason to go roll around in the mud, get filthy. I hopped back on and rode better than I rode all day. Attitude change. Instead of fighting the trail, getting angry, feeling frustrated, I threw myself into it. There was still an intensity there but it was more like, "OMG! I want to ride this better/faster/smoother! I own you!" Ditched that downward spiral of bad brain chatter. Only drawback: smiling while riding leads to more mud in teeth. ;-) Finished 1st in the Sport Masters Woman division which earned me a nice jug of NH maple syrup. Can you say more waffles! :)

Afterwards, there was no bike wash. I cleaned up best I could which really isn't saying much. The bike went on the car still coated with goop - chunks of which flew off at highway speeds. It also elicited lots of comments at Dunkin' Donuts in Warner where I stopped to load up on ice coffee and gas. Seems like everyone wanted to know what it was like to go play in the mud. Wicked fun. Only one serious drawback. I noticed later that the damn mud sucked the nail polish right off my toes. There goes my pedicure. Grrrrr....

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Let's Not Go There

Since I couldn't race this weekend, I drove the MINI (top down, baby!) to CT to visit my parents. I missed Father's Day the previous weekend since I was flying back from SF. Got to give my dad his present (which is also a present for me) - two seats behind home plate in Yankee Stadium for a late August game. We'll get one last trip down there before they tear it down at the end of the season.

But anyway, while there our discussion turned to politics. My parents are staunch republicans so we don't really see eye-to-eye which makes for some interesting (to say the least) dinner conversations. But we kept it civil, no one jumped up from the table crying and I didn't resort to drinking straight from the wine bottle. Interestingly enough, given how bad a job W has done, I think that had Hillary won the nomination my dad would be voting for her in November. That's saying a lot since he was pretty vehemently against her when she ran for the NY senate seat. But neither of my parents is a Barack fan. Can't say they like McCain either. I'm in the same boat. Barack annoys me - reminds me of all those frat boys I dealt with at Brown who always seemed to exude this attitude of arrogance mingled with entitlement. But at least I believe in what he says he'll try to accomplish.

I'm still wishing my girl Hillary was still in it. I think I'm still smarting from the realization that it still is widely accepted in this country to be sexist. Seeing those guys at one of the NH primary rallies waving signs that said, "Iron my shirts!" and hearing the news commentators chuckle about it really drove that point home. Imagine it had been a Obama rally and the signs read, "Shine my shoes!" I don't think the news guys would have been chuckling and the guys with the signs would have probably never been shown on TV or perhaps even allowed at the rally.

Shortly after I returned home, I received a link to this video. I'm thinking about forwarding it to my parents - a return volley for the liberal bashing email they usually send me (all in good fun).

Monday, June 23, 2008

Gadget Girl Falls For A Toaster


I know, I know.....you're probably thinking, how could she possibly write about a toaster? Be happy - I could be writing a post about my recent bout with norovirus. I'll save you all the incredibly nasty details of my 24 hours of living in the bathroom. But let's just say the engineer in me was trying to solve the age old problem of how to get explosive stuff simultaneously emanating from opposite ends in the toilet. Enough...I don't want to relive that again. Plus, it ruined my race plans for the weekend which puts me in a doubly foul mood.

But the toaster! OMG! I love bread and I love gadgets and now I'm in love with my early birthday present that combines both. With the kitchen remodel pretty much done, we're replacing some of the small appliances. S gave me my birthday present last week (I think she felt sorry for me and besides, since the only thing I could eat was toast, it was put to good use.) A Breville Smart Toaster.

I just love the UI on this thing. Simple, easy to use, intelligent, and gives me the same kind of happiness that using my iPhone does. It's sort of like what I think my the experience designer on my most recently cancelled project (yes, I should get over it by now but I'm still somewhat bitter about it) would have come up with. In fact, I want all the UI's for the products I work on from now on to reflect the same simplicity, power and usability that this damn toaster does.

It has 5 buttons, a slider and a progress bar(!) The buttons for Bagel and Defrost are useful but no big whoop. But the "A Bit More" and "Lift and Look" are genius - just want I want. The "A Bit More" button does what you'd expect - after your toast is done, hit that button and the bread automatically lowers for additional toasting time (not a whole additional cycle, just a bit more). The "Lift and Look" button raises the bread while toasting, doesn't cancel or reset the cycle and allows you to see how things are progressing and cancel the toasting cycle if it's done. And my favorite is the LED panel under the slider (which controls the browning level). It counts down the time remaining in the cycle. A toaster with a progress bar. How cool is that? And it beeps when it's done.

And, oh yeah, it does its basic function (toasts) very well, too. I'm baking another loaf tonight so I have more delicious toaster material. :)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Not To Be Out Done.....


My cycling buddy, PFFC, sent me an email last night saying, "I'm doing this!" So now I know that when we go for our weekend rides and stop for a coffee roll and large iced at Dunkin, she's going to be dropping and giving me 100. :) Of course, I can't let her kick my butt so now I have to do the program too. Did a quick test this morning without actually going until exhaustion and managed 25. Meh. Decent for a 45 (almost 46) year old woman but 100 would be so much cooler.

Now someone needs to do a similar program for pull ups because I'm really lame at those.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Science Experiment In The Office


I apologize if I'm grossing anyone out but when I walked into my office this morning after 10 days away I was simultaneoulsy revolted and amazed by what had grown in my coffee mug in my absence. And I drink my coffee black so that's even freakier (seems like the milk/cream and sugar would give it more nutrients to thrive on. But what do I know - I'm not a biologist.)

I walked over to the kitchen to dump it out and of course, there was a whole band of engineers hanging out, getting their morning fix and chatting. I tried to hide the mug (conveniently, one of S's science mugs) but as I approached the sink, they noticed it. I braced myself for well deserved ridicule, "Dude! Nasty stuff! Wash that *&^&%$ before you leave for the west coast next time, will ya?" But it didn't materialize. Instead they were as intrigued as I was. I dumped it in the sink and left it for them to prod. I think I need some bleach to make that mug safe again. Perhaps I should toss it.

The MINI Gets Some Aloha


I've been dying to get these seatcovers for the MINI for a while. My recent visit to Maui compelled me even more. They're constructed of neoprene (like a wetsuit) so they're really designed for surfers to protect car seats from wet swimwear. For me (only a surfer-wannbe), they'll be useful for driving home after a particularly nasty trail run or if I ever get a hitch for the back, after a bike ride. Or perhaps I should just take up surfing. And I just think they're fun. Hopefully, they will keep me in the aloha spirit when some &^%$# cuts me off on 128.











Saturday, June 14, 2008

San Francisco Sunrise

Sometimes business travel doesn't suck. I slept with the curtains open
- fell asleep to the city lights and woke up, rolled over and saw
this. There's only one better view to see when you open your eyes to a
new day. And the empty pillow isn't it.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Slackers vs Doers

Yesterday, I wrote about what makes athletes do stuff that the greater population would think was just plain crazy. This morning I experienced the clash of athlete vs normal slacker.

I'm in San Francisco this week staying atop Nob Hill. This morning's workout called for a run. I opted to run 1.5 miles down the hill to the bay, did four miles along the bay and then actually looked forward to the 1.5 miles back up Powell to Nob Hill. Absolutely gorgeous morning for a run - clear, no wind, lots of tri-geeks doing their morning workouts, swimming toward Alcatraz. Running back up the hill I was reminded of my runs in Seattle up "The Wall" with John, my co-worker and ex-Mt. Rainier guide. "The Wall" was a steep hill up Queen Anne in Seattle. We'd start out together, and the route sort of looked like a staircase - steep segments between cross streets, flatten out on the cross streets and then what felt like straight up until the next cross street. John was faster and would do pushups at the cross streets waiting for me to catch up. I felt seriously inadequate. :)

Anyway, the last two cross streets up Nob Hill, I raced the Powell St. cable car, crested the hill and wanted to do a Rocky imitation. Instead, I walked down three blocks to a Starbucks outside Union Sqare. Then back up those three very steep blocks to the hotel. In the elevator, I overhead two women talking about the wisdom of staying at a hotel on top of a very big hill. One had walked down to the Walgreens opposite the Starbucks I went to.

One woman to the other: "So you got your exercise this morning!"
Other woman: "Are you kidding? I took the cable car up those three blocks."

Wow. Just wow. This is why America is out of shape.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Burning Up At Channel 3

Yesterday, after being prompted by one of my teammates to get race report in for the Channel 3 MTB XC race, I wrote the race report that follows this brief commentary. Today, I read the compilation of all my teammates reports. Some of the adjectives used: "Sweltering...shuffling....trudged...." And then there was one of my teammates who totally redlined and "came to a brook and laid down in it for awhile." Reading all this, I found myself asking, “Why? Are we totally nutso?” What is it about athletes that makes them go race on a day when the temps are in the 90s and the humidity is unbearable? Why did none of us just decide to stay home, kick it with a cold beer, nap on the beach do anything except ignore all the public service health announcements saying stay indoors, stay cool, and check on your elderly neighbors?

Why did I do the race? I do admit to having 2nd thoughts and debating that morning with S. Yes, I did pre-reg but $25 down the drain wasn’t exactly going to kill me. Part of it was keeping my word – I did say I would be there (but I did give myself an out and said I was only 80% sure I’d be there). I do LOVE MTB racing but honestly in Sunday’s conditions it really wasn’t pleasant. Part of it is feeling tougher than others. Sort of like that feeling when you’re out doing a long run while training for the Boston Marathon early on a Sunday February morning when it’s 10 degrees, the pavement is icy and there’s a frozen sleet pelting your cheeks, freezing to your eyelashes and you're forming snotsicles. Damn! I’m way tougher than you Sunday-morning-coffee-drinking-late-sleeping-paper-readers! (Of course, one could argue that they’re smarter.)

I do know that as a hiring manager in the software industry, faced with two identical candidates but one being an athlete and one not, I’d hire the athlete every time. That’s my personal bias. They work hard at analyzing and optimizing for incremental improvements, they enjoy it when things get a bit tougher, they’re resilient and they’re not lazy. But anyway, here’s the race report:

HOT! That’s all I can remember about the Channel 3 XC race. I kept thinking I was just going to spontaneously combust. The course was a 4 mile loop on mountain bike friendly hiking trails. The elevation gain was about 475' per lap and it felt like it all came in two climbs. I found that the downhills didn't seem to be long enough for me to recover for the next uphill. The last quarter of the course had a few rock gardens and a few stream crossings. There were also a few log barriers, sketchy bridges and sweaty roots to keep things interesting.

There were about 15 sport women on the line almost evenly split between the 19-34 and the 35+ categories. I had done the race last year and remembered enjoying it despite forgetting my helmet, glasses and gloves. With the sport race going off at high noon and the thermometer in my car registering 94 while parked in the shade, I set my goal to be 1) finish 2) ride all the technical stuff I couldn’t do last year 3) enjoy one last mtb race with Cathy (mtbiker extraordinairre) as sport and watch her school the field.

Similar to last week, I didn’t gun it at the start as I figured it was going to be a long, hot day. Typically, I love riding in the heat so I was hoping some of the others out front would fade in the last lap. First lap was my best. Since I was relatively fresh, I tackled all the more technical stuff and to my surprise rode it all very well. I passed two women one on the first hard climb and the second on the long off camber (I think the roots were freaking her out and she decided to walk it). Second lap I start questioning the wisdom of actually doing this race and not sitting on a sailboat in the harbor instead. At this point, I even debated whether I should even go out for the third lap but I haven’t DNF’d yet so figured why start now. Figured I would just go to my “happy place” and just finish.

At the end of the 2nd lap, I watched the woman in front of me that I was trying to catch go under the finish banner instead of up the ugly scree covered hill. Figured she was calling it quits. Was surprised to find her on the slight uphill after the feed zone. Not happy. Not sure what was going on there but I sure wasn’t happy that I did the hill, she didn’t and was in front of me. Grrrrrr. I think mentally, that just buried me and I really started to wilt. Was passed by one woman early on in the lap. On one of the killer hills, I decided to hell with it and hopped off the bike to walk it. Head down, pushing the bike up the hill, my HR was still at 93% and there was a steady stream of sweat just pouring out of my helmet. Yikes. Hopped back on and focused on goal #2 (ride everything). Did ok but as I got more tired, I hit the rock garden, muddy section toward the end of the lap and was getting sloppy.

Was super psyched when it was over and really happy that I’d finished. 6th place, Sport Women 35+

Friday, June 06, 2008

The Apprentice

It's payback time! We've been traveling tons and tons lately. When we're both gone, our friend Lynne graciously checks in on our crazy felines along with gathering our mail, watering plants, etc, etc. And given that she's a super busy mom with two kids running to hockey practice, basketball games, baseball and a million other activities, it's wonder she even picks up her phone when caller ID tells her it's us calling.

Finally, last week she actually called me to ask a favor! Yay! We're always looking for some way to pay her back for all her time and help. They've been doing a bunch of house renovation and are right now putting a half bath on the first floor. She wanted some help doing all the wood trim in there. I packed up the car with my table saw, toolbox, extension cords, and anything else I could think of that we might need. (Later that afternoon, we were disappointed when we realized that I hadn't thought to pack the tequila for margaritas.)

What I thought would take 3 hours or so ended up taking 7 and two trips to Home Depot. But we got it done and we still had all twenty of our combined fingers. And now Lynne knows how to use a table saw, cut angles and bevels and can hammer with the best of them.




















Before
After


The Apprentice

Monday, June 02, 2008

A Race Report - Finally!

Up until Saturday afternoon, I was undecided about doing Pat's Peak. I knew I'd get my butt kicked and there'd be lots of climbing (about 900ft/lap). On the other hand, it was time to get back out there and do some races. After all, I even qualified for Nationals so if I planned on going to Mt. Snow, I better at least get a few practice races in.

And in true "I'm still not taking racing seriously" mode, I shunned my usual pre-race dinner and opted for Mexican food and tequila after eating a bucket of popcorn at the movies. Definitely not a good idea.

Having spent most of the spring slacking off, this was only my second race all season. Goals were modest: 1) finish 2) don’t get caught by the expert men’s field that went off two hours after me . 3) Do a better job pacing myself; don’t get sucked into going out too fast and blowing up. 4) keep the Mexican food and tequila from the night before down. I accomplished all four.

Before the race, Cathy and I went out to warm up. I got caught up behind someone in the first bit of singletrack and when I finally caught up to her, she was walking and said, “My race is over.” Turns out her derailleur just snapped off. ☹ At the start line, the field was visibly relieved when they heard about Cathy’s bad luck (and their good luck.) Turns out that the NEBC women are making a name for themselves. While waiting for the start, I was quizzed:

Random rider: “Who are you? Are you the fast one that was at Coyote Hill ?”
Me: “No, that was Carrie.”
Random rider: “Oh! You must be the one from Brialee.”
Me: “No, that’s Cathy.”
Random rider: “Have you done any races?”
Me: “I did Winding Trails.”
Random rider: “Oh! You’re one of those two SUPER fast ones.”
Me: “No, that’s Cathy and Cris.” (realized later Cris wasn’t there so I’m not sure who she meant. Certainly not me as I came in DFL that race.)

Given the uphill start, I didn’t totally gun it at the whistle (see goal 3). Hit the reservoir about 5th place. Was passed by 2 or 3 riders on the long uphill to the ski lift. At the end of the first lap, Cathy yelled to me, “You’re in 4th! THAT’s 3rd right there!” and pointed at the rider about 20 yards in front of me. I picked up the pace and pulled along side that rider on the uphill near the feed zone. She looked over at me and asked, “You going to move over this time when I say on your left?” I thought she was kidding as I like to think I’m a pretty fair rider and had I heard her would have moved over if I had room on the trail. But she looked pretty serious. I decided to just eliminate the issue by putting as much distance between us as possible and sprinted up the rest of the hill, around the reservoir and through the first section of singletrack. Never saw her again.

The rest of the race I was pretty much on my own except for one woman I would leap frog. I passed her on the climbs and she descended faster than me (really need to work on that.) On the last climb, I couldn’t take it anymore and again accelerated around her and put enough distance between us so she wouldn’t catch me on the long twisty downhill section. Finished 3rd in the 35+ age group. Thanks to Cathy for the intel during the race. It made all the difference knowing where I was at.